OPEN LETTER


TO PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ASEAN LEADERS
A REMINDER TO PRESIDENT OF REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA, JOKO WIDODO, OF
HUMAN RIGHTS


President Barrack Obama and distinguished ASEAN Leaders,
Please allow us to extend our regards to you all who are currently having a ASEAN and USA
Summit in Sunnylands, Rancho Mirage, California, United States of America on February 15
th 2016 to February 16th 2016.

President Obama and distinguished ASEAN Leaders,
Through this letter, we, as the citizen of Indonesia, would like to appeal to you about the what
happened to our father and how Indonesia has experienced the setback in its justice system. The
use of power as a force to change the law, has turned into a threat to democracy and created a
terror to its own citizen.

Indonesian National Police as one of law enforcement agents in Indonesia has been one of the
most rigid agents in adjusting with the democracy system in Indonesia. Searching for
professional leaders of Indonesian National Police has been the most difficult task since 1998
and it has always been a spotlight and hindrance in the efforts of combating corruption.

After General Election 2014, there had been some efforts of criminalization and politicization of
the law conducted by Indonesian law enforcement agents. Cases such as the arrest and detention
of Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission’s leadership and the case which is now
happening to our father Dr. YuliusPaonganan, an ordinary citizen who has been arrested and put
into detention due to expressing his critical thoughts about President Joko Widodo. We believe
the arrest of our father has violated the law and quoted the wrong article of law and it has been a
force action.

We believe the actions done by Indonesian National Police to Indonesian Corruption Eradication
Commission’s leaders and our father, have some hidden agendas of its own political goals which
are not consistent with the efforts of current law enforcement.

Indonesia under President Joko Widodo’s leadership has been immune to critics and almost back
to the dark era of Indonesia in the past. At that time, law was used as a political instrument that
violated the universal values of Human Rights. Article 9 of Human Rights Principle says that “no
person may be arrested, detained and removed arbitrarily”.

President Obama and Distinguished ASEAN Leaders,

The current case transpiring to our father is indeed our internal problem but our president has
remained silent about the fact that our father has been charged with the accusation without the
proper due process of law for 62 days. According to our father’s lawyer, our father was detained
without proper and legal evidence. We are missing our dearest father.

Therefore, we are making our appeal to you all to remind Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, to
review what he has done and what the article 9 of Declaration of Human Rights guarantees.
We are making the appeal not only for our father’s freedom but also for significant changes that
will happen in Indonesia as the summit discusses and proposes changes and progresses between
ASEAN and USA Relations. We are hoping the supremacy of law as one condition of having a
political and economic cooperation, will have a priority in our president’s agendas and it will
lead to our father’s freedom.

We are hoping that President Joko Widodo will have a wiser vision and view on or father’s case
and respect and acknowledge the fundamental values of democracy, law and human rights. We
hope what happened to our father will not happen again to other fellow Indonesian. We can’t
wait to welcome our father back to our home. We have no hard feelings. We just want our father
to come back and be together with us again as a complete family.
Thank you for your kind attention.

Regards,
Children and Family of YulianPaonganan
http://www.jpnn.com/read/2016/02/15/...residen-Obama-